“Teach a Man to Fish” . MFB stories

6yrian )amily /earns their Way round their New ometown in ritish o lumbia =ain Nadir, his wife and four kids immigrat ed to anada in -anuary, . The Nadirs are among hundreds of thousands of 6yrian refugees that had to flee the civil war in their country and take temporary shelter in neigh boring -ordan. They didn’t live in a refugee camp but their living condition was barely any better. Thanks to the anadian government, the Nadirs were flown into Vancouver and as signed permanent resident status. With no friends or family around, =ain and his wife really felt alone in the first few weeks of being here. When the 0uslim )ood ank caseworker .areem 6iddiTui took up the Nadirs’ case, the first thing he did was take them to the local mosTue so they could get acTuainted with fellow rabic speaking men and women. “The biggest trauma this family has suffered is separation from their loved ones, .a reem asserts. .areem knew =ain not being fluent in English would not be able to find a Mob so Tuickly after moving to anada so he found him a preoccupation. e took =ain and his entire family to the 6urrey 5ecrea tion entre and helped them register for ac cess to the gym and the swimming pool. s part of the sponsorship program, the Nadirs were assigned a fixed monthly in come. .areem met with =ain and his wife and broke down their expenses by needs and wants. e then wrote down a monthly budget to help them manage their money. .areem is not shy about setting boundaries with his new clients on what he is willing to help them with. “Within the first meeting itself, I let my clients know that I am here to show them how to do things on their own, .areem says. e has never had an issue with =ain in this regard though. “Whenever I give him new information, he implements it. If I give him an address to a place, he doesn’t ask me for a ride. e goes on his own, .areem says. .areem believes that it’s better to be consist ent in providing support to clients than to do a lot at first at the cost of burning oneself out. “ lot of times people help new immigrants but then disappear after some time. That’s when clients lose their trust, .areem adds. s new refugees that arrived in the cold of winter, the Nadirs were given flu shots to ensure they don’t fall sick. 8nfortunately, there was a complication when the flu shot was being administered to =ain which led to a small blood clot and a great deal of pain. e was made to believe by some of his acTuaintances that his arm would never be functional again. .areem reassured =ain that Must be cause he is having medicines for his problem, it doesn’t mean there is something ma Morly wrong with his arm. “=ain and his wife’s biggest challenge is lack of emotion al support, .areem says. few weeks later, =ain had too rush his wife new Mourney in anada, they are slowly to the hospital because she miscarried her learningl i th theiri way aroundd andd startingt ti t to baby. ue to language barrier, they were feel more like home. not able to understand what the doctor was These are real stories where our volunteers saying to them. have an impact on members of our com “I was really pleased that he called me when munity helping them progress in their lives. he needed help because no one else was Insha llah next week we will bring you there for them, .areem recalls. “2f all the another story. lease Moin us to have a pur people they knew, they called me. pose in your life to make a difference in the fter interpreting their conversation with lives of your brothers and sisters by com the doctor, .areem spoke to =ain’s wife ing to our events and registering as a vol and comforted her. 6he was so moved by unteer or donating to your organi ation, the his support that she called him afterwards to 0uslim )ood ank and ommunity 6er thank him. vices 6ociety usually referred to as 0uslim “That to me is priceless, .areem stresses. )ood ank at www.muslimfoodbank.com .areem says he doesn’t need them to thank donate. 2ur email is contact muslimfood him but is glad that they appreciate his efforts. bank.com and telephone number is Though the Nadirs had a rocky start on their .